Andy wins

Andy won.  Kellan says dadadada before mamama.  Though he has no idea what it means, it is still fun to think he does.

Here is Kellan talking:


And here is another episode of "car rides with a 3 year old"

Me: Dang it!
Sawyer: Don't say dammit!
I didn't, I said "dang it"
Yes you did said dammit! (he hasn't perfected his grammar)
No, I didn't- and stop saying that! I said "dang it."
Well can I say "dang it"?
Uh, sure.
DangitDangitDangitDangitDangitDangitDangitDangitDangitDangitDangit

Santa and a bouncy house

The days go by so quickly now, which is good for the weekdays, but I wish weekends lasted a little longer!

The sunset was so pretty on Friday so I took a picture while I was stuck in traffic.  A blurry view of the Microsoft building in Bellevue.

Saturday we went to the mall to get Santa pictures before the lines started to get ridiculous.  We got there at 1:00 and Santa was set to go to lunch at 2:00.  We still needed to buy Sawyer's PJ's so we decided to take our time and eat.  We headed back to be first in line after his break and to my surprise, Natalie and her family showed up right behind us!  I was so happy because I used to talk to her every day and I haven't seen her since my new job started.  Sawyer played with her girls and we talked about work and people for like 45 minutes before Santa came back.  When he was set to return, they start playing sleigh bells and he walks in the door.  The cutest thing I've ever seen happened.  Sawyer took off running like a rocket and sprinted to the door, right to Santa and gave him a huge hug and said "I'm gonna sit on your lap!".  I almost teared up it was so sweet.  A big change from last year when he was scared of him and only would sit with him if he had his toy truck.  The photos turned out pretty good even though Kel wouldn't smile even when I did things that normally make him laugh.  We even saw Jill and Easton as we were leaving!

Today we headed to the Auburn mall to meet Cooper for his birthday.  Unfortunately soon after we got there (and paid the $10.95) some of their party decided they needed to eat dinner so it was kind of crappy we drove all that way and paid.  We hadn't seen Cooper in a year so it was good to see him for a little bit.  We decided to stay and get our money's worth since we had dinner in the crockpot at home anyway.  My parents stayed with us for awhile though, and Kellan loved playing with grandpa.

This bear thing was there for some kid's birthday party

Grandma and grandpa saying bye 

Sawyer came in like a wrecking ball (this thing spun around and you can ride on them)

Jumping on some sort of thick water bed

boing boing

We kind of relaxed and put up some Christmas decor (with Destiny's help cleaning) since Thanksgiving is late this year, and we will be gone next weekend.  We'll have to wait on the tree though!  We talked about where we could move and are considering the Issaquah area.  I am driving 5 hours a day and it is bonkers!

Riding buddies

Andy took the boys up Friday on the bus to ride home from work with me.  Sawyer loved riding the bus but eventually fell asleep.  When Sawyer is asleep, he is OUT.  You try to stand him up and he just collapses or walks two steps and lays back down.  He did both of those on Andy and he was halfway off the bus before he realized Sawyer had cozied back up and was laying down asleep. They made it to Kirkland though where I picked them up (they were late to get their normal bus so I was off before they got on their last one).

On the way home we went to Bellevue Square.  Andy smiled at Felix Hernandez who was there shopping.  We also went to Cheesecake Factory.

Mac and Cheese burger. It's not as raw as it looks, but I do like my meat pretty pink

We ate the cheesecake at home

Not sure how often that will happen again since it was tough to get the boys on the bus, but I appreciate the effort!

Crash

This week while I was on Canyon road, a big truck took forever to get on the freeway.  For some reason after it was done, the car behind it didn't go.  That caused the car in front of me to hit their brakes fast because they were expecting it to go, which caused me to, which caused the guy behind me to crash into me.  I had never been in an accident before (I haven't even received a ticket) so I wasn't sure what to do.  I took a picture of his car and driver's license and got his number because we were both on our way to work, and Andy called him later.  I felt fine afterwards, but as the day went on I started to get a sore back.  It is not too bad, but I feel like my back and neck is out of line now.  I think it was because it was already bad, and even though it had been set by Dr. Berry recently, a little bump put it back out of line.  I was hoping to not have to go back to the chiro since I literally have no time to go.  My new insurance deductible is ridic so I don't want to go back but I suppose if I go the guy will have to pay for it.  He felt really bad and kept saying he was sorry and asking if I was OK, so that's nice.

My car got a few dents and his paint all over it, but his bumper got bent.

The good ol' days

My mom was looking for a picture of me dressed like a power ranger to show Sawyer, so she busted out the photo albums.  It was spur of the moment and the light was bright on the shiny sheets but I took out my phone and took pictures of some of the baby pictures.

Apparently the kids take after me.

Kellan is a skinnier version of me:

And here I look like Sawyer, he makes this face all the time:

Other randoms:

First day of kindergarten

Me when I'm two

At the top of steamboat rock at Banks lake around age 11ish (still got those knobby knees)

Those pants...

Eleven. I am still friends with them lol, Christine (far left) was our roommate a couple years ago :)

Katniss from a young age

I like my outfit here, I look like a boy with that bow tie lol

5th Grade (I took this at an angle,my head wasn't that much bigger lol)

Norwegian camp (my mom made me a better bunad the second year but I couldn't find that pic)

The shortest girls had to be boys since there were more girls.  That was me this year :/

Here I am looking like fat kellan again

Me and my neighbor Tiffany

Me and mom

I was Jasmine, Erik was Rafael

This week

This week with the Monsons...


I got a cubicle (this is half of it, it extends a bit behind)

Thursday had a wind storm -> leaves in the drains -> standing water on the freeway -> stupid drivers -> many accidents -> 4 hour commute to work (and the usual 2 home)

Destiny and Erik had an ultrasound and found out they're having a girl!  I am excited to have a girl to buy and make pretty things for.  I've never been very "girly" in most senses (let's just say everyone I knew was super shocked when I did cheerleading), but I love girly fashions so it is perfect to have a niece!  I can't wait to meet her! I was hoping they'd have a girl even though I wanted somewhere to send all our old boy clothes lol.

I got the new Canon 70D (just came out a couple months ago).  The low light on this is awesome.  The ISO goes up super high with minimum noise. It also takes video, which I never really wanted or needed before but I'm sure a high quality video might come in handy.  The view screen is a flip out one and touch screen! This shot on my rebel would be so noisy I'd be embarrassed to post it, but its cute now.  Sawyer always asks to play "abc mouse.com" because they have apps for the phone.

Kellan pulls up on everything

And he thinks he can stand and walk.  He can't.  He can take a couple steps while holding things, but he always does this below, and tries to lift his arm off.  He is just too wiggly to pull off standing yet.

Kellan has also been grouchy this week, but understandably because his second bottom tooth popped through!

Pull up and crawl

Kellan crawls pretty good now and can even pull himself up.  Here are videos of him doing them.

New Job

My last day at Sunrise was Thursday.  It's been a good five years.  I actually enjoyed working in retail.  The people were usually my age (coworkers) and getting to talk to new customers about random things every day was fun for me.  The pay was also good (and probably double what most people expect out of a retail job).  I didn't have a choice though, when they decided to give the finance rep tasks to the SSR's across the country.

I cleared out my desk and took the pictures off the wall first thing so I didn't get super sad when I left.  It was a good normal day at work, having fun with the coworkers.  Natalie came back from lunch with surprises for me.  She had got an ice cream cake and gifts for me (from everyone) and a card.  The gifts were things to use in a cubicle like a calendar of awkward family photos, new pens, a flip book that displays what mood you are in for the day, a cube picture frame, and a pretty flower.

My first day on Friday went OK.  I left the kids at 6 and made it to Bothell right after 7 which was good considering there was traffic on 405.  I didn't do much my first day but I met everyone (who as I expected are all quite a bit older than I am) and settled in a little bit.  I have to switch cubicles with someone so I didn't get too settled.  They have to switch the phones first before I can switch though so I guess I'll just not decorate or anything.  I was pretty excited to see how big the cubes are and how decorated everyone makes them.  My boss explained some things to me but I didn't understand much because I hadn't seen where they applied, then I sat with someone who was very nice but didn't explain what was going on very well.  She explained the situation well but I had no idea what the numbers and stuff she was working with meant and I didn't have a chance to ask.  I think I'll get it eventually though, it helps that I dealt with that stuff in my own store.  My eyes were glossing over because I woke up at 4 with Andy and couldn't get back to sleep, plus the info overload.  I think I will catch on eventually.  I really miss my old coworkers though, especially Natalie and our sarcastic comments we laughed about all day.  The people in the office seem to not have a similar sense of humor as me so I hope I can fit in and manage not to offend someone with my sarcasm I've never had to filter.  I think it will be OK though, and I'm excited to find my groove and start my schedule (we are allowed to pick our hours).  Tomorrow the big boss lady from Atlanta will be in and meeting everyone for the first time.  I think I'm a little relieved to be brand new at this point so she doesn't have anything to talk to me about lol.  The drive home sucks, but I expected that.  It took about 1:45 to get home, but they are FINALLY putting a stoplight in at 144th on 122nd so I think that will save 10 minutes.

I guess we will see how this week goes.  Hopefully I start connecting all the right things and understanding better.  I get to sit with all different people, so I'm sure I will get a lot of good info.  They aren't giving me stores until they're sure I understand so that is a relief.  I kind of wish they had a training program like the stores where they ship you off for a few weeks to learn by people that's job is to teach you how to do your job.